on:

"With mine own tears I wash away my balm,[2]
With mine own hand I give away my crown."

[2] "Richard II," Act IV, scene i. The balm was the sacred oil used
in anointing the King at his coronation.

After his deposition Richard was confined in Pontefract Castle,
Yorkshire, where he found, like his unfortunate ancestory, Edward II
(S233), "that in the cases of princes there is but a step from the
prison to the grave." His death did not take place, however, until
after Henry's accession.[1] Most historians condemn Richard as an
unscrupulous tyrant. Froissart, who wrote in his time, says that he
ruled "fiercely," and that no one in England dared "speak against
anything the King did." A recent writer thinks he may have been
insane, and declares that whether he "was mad or not, he, at all
events acted like a madman." But another authority defends him,
saying that Richard was not a despot at heart, but used despotic means
hoping to effect much-needed reforms.[2]

[1] Henry of Lancaster was the son of John of Gaunt, who was the
fourth son of Edward III; but there were descendents of that King's
THIRD son (Lionel, Duke of Clarence) living, who, of course, had a
prior claim, as the following table shows:

Edward III
[Direct descendant of Henry III]
1 2 3 | 4 5
---------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | |
Edward, the William, d. Lionel, Duke John of Gaunt, Edmund
Black Prince in childhood. of Clarence Duke of Lancaster Duke of
| | | York
Richard II Philippa, m. Henry Bollinger
Edmund Mortimer Duke of Lancaster,
| afterward
Roger Mortimer Henry IV
d. 1398-1399
|
Edmund Mortimer
(heir presumptive
to the crown after
Richard II)

[2] See Gardiner, Stubbs, and the "Dictionary of English History."

258. Summary.

Richard II's reign comprised:

1. The peasant revolt under Wat Tyler, whic hled eventually to the
emancipation of the villeins, or farm laborers.
2. Wycli